The Last Stand
by IceAngel7
Summary: 'The Deltora Quest rushes to its thundering climax' yet only Lief's story is told. This is Jasmine and Barda's story and what happened to them as Lief was traversing the underground passage to the palace.
1. Part1

~THE LAST STAND~

by IceAngel

SUMMARY - 'The Deltora Quest rushes to its thundering climax' yet only Lief's story is told. This is Jasmine and Barda's story and what happened to them as Lief was going through the underground passage to the palace.  
MAIN CHARACTERS - Jasmine, Barda, Lief, Doom.

Part 1 - The Forge

Wake the Bear  
Do not Fear  
Scurry mouse,  
Into your house  
Lift the lid  
Be glad you did

A rhyme. A simple childhood rhyme. That was all.

Jasmine's heart was pounding so hard she could hardly comprehend what was happening. Doom was her father. Doom, leader of the resistance. Doom, the man they had suspected of betraying them. And yet though it seemed impossible, she knew in her heart it was true.

But why did Lief and Barda stare at her so? The hand which held the scrunched piece of paper containing the rhyme she held out to her unconscious father trembled slightly. What did it mean? It was just a rhyme.

Suddenly Lief made a quick movement. He lifted his shirt and unclasped the belt. Jasmine suddenly realised what he meant by the action. Lief reached out, holding the belt out to her with determination.

Jasmine shook her head, dizzy with denial and a feeling that all was not as it should be.

"Jasmine, put it on!" Barda yelled, and Jasmine could see the desperation in his eyes. "Doom is Endon. You are his daughter. You are the heir to Deltora!

"No!" Jasmine shouted, backing away from Lief's outstretched hand. Her foot struck the table leg as she moved backwards and she fell heavily to the floor. Kree flew screaching from her shoulder on to the windowsill. As her back struck the hard boards of the bedroom floor, a sudden flash of light filled her vision.

_~ She saw herself in the palace. The horrible palace of stone that shut out all of nature. _

_ She was the queen and yet the people rebelled against her. 'A wild girl from the forest,' they whispered behind her back. 'she should go back and live in the trees where she belongs!'~_

"No!" Jasmine cried again, wrenching herself away from the dream. "It cannot be! I do not want it! I cannot do it!"

She looked up at the faces of Lief and Barda. She knew they were thinking back over the quest. They were wondering how they could have come so far, faced so many perils, to have failed here, because of her stubborn reluctance to do her duty.

"You can!" Lief said gently, "you must."

Jasmine looked over at Doom, her father. How much he had suffered to see his daughter take her place upon the thrown. He had lost his wife, been taken to the Shadowlands, and barely escaped with his life. She could not disappoint him now. She would do her duty.

Jasmine stood very still as Lief approached cautiously and began looping the belt about her waist. She held her breath, waiting...

Nothing happened. Jasmine sighed, not from disappointment but from relief. She knew it was selfish, and she knew she should feel horror that their quest had failed, but in another way she knew she could never have been the queen Deltora needed.

"What we have been told about the belt is false," Jasmine said in a flat voice, realisation of their failure beginning to dawn on her. "We have pinned our lives, and our hopes, on a myth. My father has been right all along."

Lief bent and lifted the belt from the floor, his face distant and confused. Barda's eyes grew dark and he sank into a chair by the door, his head in his hands. Jasmine hated to see their hopes die this way. The only thing she was grateful for was that Doom had not been forced to witness it.

Jasmine knelt by her father and tentatively brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes. She hardly noticed Lief moving slowly from the room.

There was a moment of complete silence, in which the only sounds Jasmine could hear were Barda's heavy breathing and the rustling of Kree's feathers. All at once Kree let out a loud screech and flew from his perch on the window. The door flew open and grey figures burst into the room.

Jasmine felt for the knife at her belt and realised with horror that she had left it on the bedside table. Kree swooped at the first guard's head, causing the man to curse and swipe at the bird with his sword. Jasmine lunged for the table, knowing that without her weapon she would be defenceless.

Barda had risen and drawn his sword the moment the door had flown open, but being so close to the entrance he was immediately overwhelmed by the first guards to enter.

Jasmine positioned herself in front of Doom. She heard him groan and begin to stir, and she preyed he would recover his wits quickly enough to aid them.

There was a mighty crash as one of the guards body-slammed Barda into the glass of the window. He fell, his forehead drenched in blood. They were upon him in a moment and Jasmine realised she was alone.

"I have him!" one of the Guards holding Barda to the floor shouted. "Now, the girl! The girl!"

Where was Lief? Jasmine thought feverishly as she blocked the trust of a sword, swiftly cutting under his blade and driving her own into his chest. He must be still in the other room, she realised, but when he hears the sounds of battle . . .

"Keep away!" she shouted as loud as she could. "Keep away! There are only three of us here, and there are ten of you! Ten!" It was a desperate effort, and Jasmine preyed the guards were too stupid to realise the stupidity of her words.

All of a sudden, a foot was flying at her leg. It struck her shin and swept her feet from under her. She was thrown to the ground, still gripping her knife. The same foot slammed into her hand and with horror she felt the knife fly from her grasp. She was grabbed by rough hands, hauled to her feet, and dragged from the house biting and struggling.

The only hope now was Lief. She hoped the risk she had taken in warning him would not be proved worthless.


	2. Part2

~THE LAST STAND~

by IceAngel

SUMMARY - 'The Deltora Quest rushes to its thundering climax yet only Lief's story is told. This is Jasmine and Barda's story and what happened to them as Lief was going through the underground passage to the palace.  
MAIN CHARACTERS - Jasmine, Barda, Lief, Doom.

Part 2 - The Grey Guards

For him, it had begun here, and here too, it seemed, it would end. Here, Jarrad and Anna had taken him in. Here, he had spent years watching Lief grow until he was ready. Here, the quest for the Belt had begun, and here it would end.

It took a moment for Barda to come to his senses. A stunning blow to his head had rendered him nearly unconscious. Several pairs of hands held his arms behind him, pinning him to the floor. No matter how he struggled to shake them off, he could not find enough strength.

The bedroom floor beneath him was littered with shards of glass from the window he had broken when he fell. His upturned chair obscured his view of Jasmine and Doom. Frustration and helplessness burned within him, as he heard Jasmine shout a warning to Lief.

Lief! That was where the only hope lay now.

Hope. Barda thought with a grim smile. I am a fool to still have hope.

There was a sudden cry from Jasmine, and Barda felt some of the weight lift from his back. He was pulled up to his knees. One of the Grey Guards had Jasmine around the waist, struggling to hold her writhing body. She was biting and kicking violently, seemingly still trying to protect Doom who lay unconscious on the bed.

The Guard threw Jasmine to the floor beside Barda, letting the other guards hold her. Barda winced as he struck her across the face, "That'll teach you to bite!" he snarled, brandishing his blood-stained hand where Jasmine had bitten him.

"Keep your hands off her," Barda growled at the guard, doing his best to avert his attention from Jasmine. The guard's foot struck him in the ribs, and he doubled over from the pain. After a moment, he raised his eyes slowly to the guard's smiling face.

"Three of you, yes! Just where Fallow said you'd be." The guard went on, amused. "And one of you out cold. Easy pickings!" Barda turned his attention to where the guards were hauling Doom's limp body from the bed. Another surge of anger flooded over him. Anger at himself.

He had failed. Failed Doom, failed Jasmine, and most likely Lief as well. But worst of all, he had failed Jarrad and Anna. They had depended on him to see the quest completed. But the belt had not shone for Jasmine, Deltora's heir, and Barda found it hard to see what hope remained.

Two of the guards lifted the unconscious Doom towards the door, while others dragged the body of the guard Jasmine had killed.

The guards laughed harshly as they bound Jasmine and Barda's hands behind them. They were led out of the Forge, their refuge, and into the cold night.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How long it had been since their capture Barda could not tell. The cart travelled slowly and bumpily up the hill to the palace, jolting the grey guards and their three prisoners alike.

Barda lay on his side in the centre of the cart, his back towards the guards who sat watching them from the sides. Every so often he would feel a sharp sting from a blade of one of the over-enthusiastic guards who sought to remind their prisoners of their authority.

Jasmine lay beside him, her pale and dirt streaked face bright against her dark clothing. Barda was worried about her. Her face held no expression, and she seemed only to have eyes for her father. Perhaps she had been hurt in some way, Barda thought, plans for revenge filling his mind.

Doom was yet to wake. His encounter with the Ol they had believed to their friend, Dain, seemed to have sapped all his strength. It was probably better, Barda mused, that Doom did not wake under these conditions.

The road was rough with uneven paving and loose pebbles. The hard bottom of the cart dug into Barda's bruised ribs every time the wheels slipped on the rough ground.

But what had made his blood run cold, was the sound of clanging bells they had heard just before being pushed into the cart. Barda knew what it meant, all too well. How many times had he forced himself to ignore the desperate urge to do his duty as a palace guard, to rescue those the Shadow Lord had condemned? But his first duty had always been to Jarrad, to Anna and to Lief.

The people were being called to the palace to witness the punishment of traitors. For years he had stood and watched the executions. But this time it would be he himself who stood accused, and like all before him, he would die.

Doom stirred as the cart pulled to a halt outside the Palace Wall. A man on the gate shouted for them to declare themselves and their errand.

"Special delivery!" the grey guard at the front of the cart shouted. "Fallow's express orders."

The man on the wall narrowed his eyes and surveyed the cart's cargo. There was a sudden shimmer in the man's form, a white dissolvence of flesh until it quickly remoulded itself. It had declared itself to be an Ol.

"You have returned sooner than expected, Bak 8," the Ol remarked, signalling for the gate to be opened. "I presume all has gone as planned."

"Easy as winking," Bak 8 laughed, glancing back in amusement at the three figures in the cart. "Three of 'em, just as Fallow said. Where are we to take them?"

The heavy gate swung slowly open. "You shall await orders to bring them to the Place. I will carry the news of your success to Fallow immediately." The Ol disappeared swiftly and the group of guards were left to drag their prisoners up the steep incline.

Carts had not been permitted to enter or leave the Palace walls since the means of Jarrad's escape had been made known all those years ago. The guard holding Barda grumbled as he pushed the big man forwards. Jasmine walked almost serenely, as though the fire that always burnt inside her had been extinguished. Doom was awake now, but barely conscious.

"I'll be dammed if I have to lug this great ugly tick all the way to the Palace," the guard carrying Doom complained. "It's bad enough we have to miss the party."

"Fool!" Bak 8 said, "the master has been good enough to give us special duties, and all you can think of, Bak 5, is branding some misshapen monsters from the north!"

Monsters? Barda's mind raced with dark possibilities. Surely the only ones who could be considered monsters in Del were . . . Manus . . . Gla-Thon . . They had been captured too! He tried once more to loosen the ropes binding his wrists, but to no avail.

"I wouldn't complain so if this tick weren't so damnably heavy!" Bak 5 whined.

"Give him a touch of your whip and he'll right himself soon enough," one of the other guards suggested.

Bak 5 smiled, dropping Doom so he hit the ground hard. The man groaned against the pain, the bruises on his neck more visible that ever against his pale face. Bak 5 pulled his whip from his belt and unrolled it with a crack. Barda flinched despite himself.

All of a sudden, there was a piercing cry from Jasmine. She slammed her elbow into the face of the guard holding her, and flung herself forwards over the helpless Doom.

"Jasmine!" Barda cried, fighting to free himself. The guards quickly assessed the situation and Barda felt more hands trying to close around his arms. Terrified for Jasmine's safety, Barda gave one final effort. With a mighty shout, he wrenched his arms from the guards' hold and joined Jasmine before Doom.

While some of the guards seemed alarmed, Bak 5 just smiled knowingly and advanced upon the three. Barda's sword had been taken from him, and with the ropes holding his arms he could not attack the guards. But while he had breath left he would defend Jasmine. And as she protected her father, he would protect her.

"Jasmine . . !" the voice was low and strained, but Doom's all the same. It was a warning, but it came too late. Bak 8 rose from behind Jasmine, his arm closing around her throat. He forced her backwards while holding his long knife against her neck.

Barda froze, knowing that Bak 8 could kill her instantly. "You should know what's good for you, girl!" Bak 8 growled in Jasmine's ear. "Your big protector won't be there for you next time." The guard who took Barda's arms once more snickered. Barda's eyes never left Bak 8's knife, and even when he had released Jasmine and given her over to Bak 7, he vowed to himself he would see Bak 8 killed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The cell was damp and smelt horribly of sweat and fear. There were no windows. The floor was slippery with moss and puddles of dirty water lay in the crevices of the stone floor.

Barda watched helplessly as Jasmine fought uselessly against the guards. The stone room was a nightmare to her, and she would rather die than be trapped inside.

While there was still light, he moved further into the cell, searching the walls for anything they might use to escape. Doom was pushed in after Jasmine, his face still showing signs of trauma. The guards slammed the door shut, and it took a moment for Barda to notice that all was not dark.

The light source was invisible, but what Barda did see made his blood turn to ice. There, in the centre of the stone floor lay a piece of white cloth. It shone in the darkness, as though the light illuminated it alone. He dropped to his knees beside it, unconscious of Doom's concerned questions from beside him.

Although unable to take it up in his hands because of the ropes, Barda needed no such contact to tell him that the cloth had belonged to Anna. Bitter tears filled his eyes as the initials on the corner of the cloth confirmed his suspicion. A for Anna . . .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Thanks to those who reviewed this story, it was a fun idea to explore_


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